phik

Just for the record, as early as one o’clock I told him that I wasn’t forcing him to keep working tonight. But he has a point about working late. And he went to bed an hour ago.

Presumably anyone bored enough to read this tripe has already perused the more entertaining forms of entertainment on the web. So you probably already know about Child’s Play.

Just in case you didn’t, now you do. And apparently people bought so many toys that the postal service has to make a special delivery to Chez P-A, with multiple trucks. So if you don’t buy something, you’ll be the only one; some kind of Easter scrooge, that’s what you’ll be.

People have been bitching about United Parcel Service for as long as I can remember. A half-score and two years ago, back when I was living in Ohio, we received an average of about two packages a day, mostly via UPS, and I can’t remember a single problem. I thought these other people were just a bunch of whiners.

Now I’m of the opinion that there should be some kind of Federal Trade Commission ruling which forces online retailers to get explicit consent before shipping anything via UPS, and give you a chance to pay more for FedEx, or cancel, or something.

I am tracking a package which is supposed to be going to San Jose. It is an exciting package, stuffed with goodies and trinkets for a growing family. According to UPS, however, it is in fact two packages, one of which is on its way to Richmond, CA, and the other which was already delivered to Shutesbury, MA.

On the other hand, those FedEx cock monsters annoy me sometimes, too:

8:12 am Left FedEx Ramp EAST BOSTON MA
8:32 am On FedEx vehicle for delivery MEDFORD MA
9:16 am Arrived at FedEx Ramp EAST BOSTON MA

I think that’s secret FedEx code for “This guy only paid for 2-day, and we got it here too fast, so throw it back in the fucking warehouse.” Assholes.

Why is it that when I get ready to go on a long trip, my wisdom teeth start acting up? It happens almost without fail, which is the kind of recurring pattern that you would think would lead to a natural resolution. I remember almost cancelling trips as much as 2 years ago, because the intensity of the pain was such that I had to see a surgeon tomorrow. But by the next morning the pain was tolerable, or something, so I didn’t.

This time I think things are slightly more advanced, because I can see the object of my despair. I have more teeth than I did last week. I have teeth in places where there were no teeth before.

Assuming that I am not in so much agony by Christmas that I demand whatever kind of unwashed dental torture as can be reasonably applied in this country, I think I will take care of this problem once and for all in January. I have gone so far as to make an appointment with a surgeon, which represents a groundbreaking achievement in this space.

Why is it that when I get ready to go on a long trip, my wisdom teeth start acting up? It happens almost without fail, which is the kind of recurring pattern that you would think would lead to a natural resolution. I remember almost cancelling trips as much as 2 years ago, because the intensity of the pain was such that I had to see a surgeon tomorrow. But by the next morning the pain was tolerable, or something, so I didn’t.

This time I think things are slightly more advanced, because I can see the object of my despair. I have more teeth than I did last week. I have teeth in places where there were no teeth before.

Assuming that I am not in so much agony by Christmas that I demand whatever kind of unwashed dental torture as can be reasonably applied in this country, I think I will take care of this problem once and for all in January. I have gone so far as to make an appointment with a surgeon, which represents a groundbreaking achievement in this space.

I only just heard about Ettore, having been travelling for the better part of a day. We were not great friends, but we were well acquainted, and it was always a pleasure to see him. I always parted his company with the self-admonition to see him more often, and get to know him better. Like so many of my friends, I took his presence for granted. There will always be more time, right?

We miss you, Ettore. It doesn’t make any sense.

I only just heard about Ettore, having been travelling for the better part of a day. We were not great friends, but we were well acquainted, and it was always a pleasure to see him. I always parted his company with the self-admonition to see him more often, and get to know him better. Like so many of my friends, I took his presence for granted. There will always be more time, right?

We miss you, Ettore. It doesn’t make any sense.

I have a bounty for you, but it’s not GNOME-related: fix goddamn cvs update -j.

Sometimes it will just ignore me:

[phil@innova llite]$ cvs update -j1.52 -j1.51 dir.c
M dir.c
[phil@innova llite]$

I will Paypal some bits which can be redeemed for a crisp $10 in goods or services to the person who tells me how I can fix that, or fixes CVS.

Note to applicants: cvs diff -r1.51 -r1.52 | patch -p0 -R is a non-solution.

I have a bounty for you, but it’s not GNOME-related: fix goddamn cvs update -j.

Sometimes it will just ignore me:

[phil@innova llite]$ cvs update -j1.52 -j1.51 dir.c
M dir.c
[phil@innova llite]$

I will Paypal some bits which can be redeemed for a crisp $10 in goods or services to the person who tells me how I can fix that, or fixes CVS.

Note to applicants: cvs diff -r1.51 -r1.52 | patch -p0 -R is a non-solution.

“I should be productive. I understand that’s a big part of my job.” — Mats Sundin

I think that Prime Throat is an excellent product name.

“I should be productive. I understand that’s a big part of my job.” — Mats Sundin

I think that Prime Throat is an excellent product name.

If you’re not interested in hearing me complain about my computer, you should probably come back in a few days. The other two of you, grab a snickers.

Right before I left for China, I upgraded my working-perfectly Red Hat Linux 7.3 laptop to RHL 9. If it was working so perfectly, you have already asked, why did you upgrade? I’ll be honest: all I wanted was to run Thunderbird, because spamassassin is simply not cutting it.

I’ll take the first of what will no doubt be many digressions here to complain that the Thunderbird web site claims — right there on the front page — that it runs on 7.3. This is apparently some marketing trick which only applies if you build it yourself, which may or may not be possible. I certainly wasn’t about to find out. Suffice it to say that the binaries use libraries which were not even conceived of in the era of 7.3. Moving on.

Everyone asked me why I was being such a child, and marvelled that I was able to wait this long, and told me that their upgrades always took minutes and came with things like sexual favours and free vacations. If I were Tycho, I would write about how these vacations were to places like India, where they eat with their hands, and do other italicized things.

So I upgraded, and it was cool, and nothing is catastrophically wrong. But everything is subtly or sometimes not-so-subtly wrong:

• sometimes the cursors in multiple gnome-terminals will flash simultaneously, out of phase, which is perhaps the most distracting thing my computer can do except show pornography
• if Thunderbird is running, Mozilla won’t start
• if Mozilla is already started, and then I start Thunderbird, mozilla –remote stops working
• xemacs sometimes won’t paint the screen anymore, and complains about a BadWindow until I kill it. but they shouldn’t worry too much, because nobody ever keeps important state in emacs
• metacity only has one configuration option:
  
  Be ever so slightly less retarded

  (or so zab tells me — I couldn’t find it) which makes it a complete non-starter. Back to sawfish, which doesn’t always get focus right, but that’s cool, it’s not really important.

• the GNOME panel battery applet has used 77 CPU minutes in 5 days. That’s more CPU than X itself, if you can believe that. And if you can believe it, I think the battery applet is the reason that my fan is always running.
• the X cursor is very often wrong, failing to switch to the correct one when I move it to another window. Moving it back and forth between two windows usually resets it.
• the upgraded xemacs simply won’t open one of our perl scripts. It throws some perl-mode error and goes for a cup of tea.
• sometimes rcd likes to consume all cpu until restarted — oops, that happened in 7.3 too, never mind

I’m sure that I have forgotten at least a dozen things. It’s too much work to remember each and every way in which my computing experience has declined as a result of the upgrade.

I’m more or less finished being a bitter old crank now, if you want to stop skimming. Unless you want to hear me talk about the Linux VM, and the precise instruments which I hope its developers choke on…

<dria> phik: for the record, you were complaining about your wisdom teeth on oct 20, 2000

I am looking forward, in some twisted way, to the moment when the surgeon asks me innocently, “So, how long have they been hurting?” and I can look him right in the eye and say “Ohhh, hmmmmm… about… oh… three years.”

Upon some reflection, I’m pretty sure that almost everything I’ve ever written here is basically just one big inside joke.

If you’re not interested in hearing me complain about my computer, you should probably come back in a few days. The other two of you, grab a snickers.

Right before I left for China, I upgraded my working-perfectly Red Hat Linux 7.3 laptop to RHL 9. If it was working so perfectly, you have already asked, why did you upgrade? I’ll be honest: all I wanted was to run Thunderbird, because spamassassin is simply not cutting it.

I’ll take the first of what will no doubt be many digressions here to complain that the Thunderbird web site claims — right there on the front page — that it runs on 7.3. This is apparently some marketing trick which only applies if you build it yourself, which may or may not be possible. I certainly wasn’t about to find out. Suffice it to say that the binaries use libraries which were not even conceived of in the era of 7.3. Moving on.

Everyone asked me why I was being such a child, and marvelled that I was able to wait this long, and told me that their upgrades always took minutes and came with things like sexual favours and free vacations. If I were Tycho, I would write about how these vacations were to places like India, where they eat with their hands, and do other italicized things.

So I upgraded, and it was cool, and nothing is catastrophically wrong. But everything is subtly or sometimes not-so-subtly wrong:

• sometimes the cursors in multiple gnome-terminals will flash simultaneously, out of phase, which is perhaps the most distracting thing my computer can do except show pornography
• if Thunderbird is running, Mozilla won’t start
• if Mozilla is already started, and then I start Thunderbird, mozilla –remote stops working
• xemacs sometimes won’t paint the screen anymore, and complains about a BadWindow until I kill it. but they shouldn’t worry too much, because nobody ever keeps important state in emacs
• metacity only has one configuration option:
  
  Be ever so slightly less retarded

  (or so zab tells me — I couldn’t find it) which makes it a complete non-starter. Back to sawfish, which doesn’t always get focus right, but that’s cool, it’s not really important.

• the GNOME panel battery applet has used 77 CPU minutes in 5 days. That’s more CPU than X itself, if you can believe that. And if you can believe it, I think the battery applet is the reason that my fan is always running.
• the X cursor is very often wrong, failing to switch to the correct one when I move it to another window. Moving it back and forth between two windows usually resets it.
• the upgraded xemacs simply won’t open one of our perl scripts. It throws some perl-mode error and goes for a cup of tea.
• sometimes rcd likes to consume all cpu until restarted — oops, that happened in 7.3 too, never mind

I’m sure that I have forgotten at least a dozen things. It’s too much work to remember each and every way in which my computing experience has declined as a result of the upgrade.

I’m more or less finished being a bitter old crank now, if you want to stop skimming. Unless you want to hear me talk about the Linux VM, and the precise instruments which I hope its developers choke on…

<dria> phik: for the record, you were complaining about your wisdom teeth on oct 20, 2000

I am looking forward, in some twisted way, to the moment when the surgeon asks me innocently, “So, how long have they been hurting?” and I can look him right in the eye and say “Ohhh, hmmmmm… about… oh… three years.”

Upon some reflection, I’m pretty sure that almost everything I’ve ever written here is basically just one big inside joke.

I was told by an Indian ex-pat once that Indian cars have different standard gear ratios than Western cars, and that many Indian ex-pats have difficulty driving at first as a result.

Something like that is clearly going on in China with the taxis, although I think the “don’t know how to drive” theory is also strong. I don’t know why, but the vast majority of the taxi drivers are really bad at getting their cars moving, usually with a lot of shuddering and near-stalling noises. I wonder if they’re geared differently and just harder to get moving, or if years of practise has somehow not made the drivers any better at it.

I was told by an Indian ex-pat once that Indian cars have different standard gear ratios than Western cars, and that many Indian ex-pats have difficulty driving at first as a result.

Something like that is clearly going on in China with the taxis, although I think the “don’t know how to drive” theory is also strong. I don’t know why, but the vast majority of the taxi drivers are really bad at getting their cars moving, usually with a lot of shuddering and near-stalling noises. I wonder if they’re geared differently and just harder to get moving, or if years of practise has somehow not made the drivers any better at it.

We had lunch in a Japanese restaurant today, and it was quite a bit after lunchtime, so I think we surprised them. When we came up the stairs, all of the lights started turning on, and people emerged from what I imagined to be little Japanese nap rooms. Unlikely, I guess.

At any rate, we were definitely the only customers in the restaurant. After we ordered some sushi, we waited, and waited, and bits trickled in at an unbelievable crawl. Finally, after 30 or 40 minutes, we asked when the rest of our food would arrive. To which they responded, I swear to god: “Sorry, sorry, it’s busy today, so things are a little slow.”

One basically can’t walk down Gong Ti Bei Lu, a pretty major street by anyone’s definition, in the middle of the night without being solicited for any number of things, some innocent, but mostly wanting to know if I want “lady bar, mas-sage, looka looka”. Sometimes more than just looka looka.

As a rich westerner, I am probably the precise mark, for whom this person is probably paid a commission. Just like all of the pirated CD hawks and one-armed, 95-year-old beggars, these guys want nothing more than to get into my wallet. I don’t know how I feel about that. Conflicted, I guess, at least in terms of the one-armed, 95-year-old beggars. Especially the ones with little dogs.

We had lunch in a Japanese restaurant today, and it was quite a bit after lunchtime, so I think we surprised them. When we came up the stairs, all of the lights started turning on, and people emerged from what I imagined to be little Japanese nap rooms. Unlikely, I guess.

At any rate, we were definitely the only customers in the restaurant. After we ordered some sushi, we waited, and waited, and bits trickled in at an unbelievable crawl. Finally, after 30 or 40 minutes, we asked when the rest of our food would arrive. To which they responded, I swear to god: “Sorry, sorry, it’s busy today, so things are a little slow.”

One basically can’t walk down Gong Ti Bei Lu, a pretty major street by anyone’s definition, in the middle of the night without being solicited for any number of things, some innocent, but mostly wanting to know if I want “lady bar, mas-sage, looka looka”. Sometimes more than just looka looka.

As a rich westerner, I am probably the precise mark, for whom this person is probably paid a commission. Just like all of the pirated CD hawks and one-armed, 95-year-old beggars, these guys want nothing more than to get into my wallet. I don’t know how I feel about that. Conflicted, I guess, at least in terms of the one-armed, 95-year-old beggars. Especially the ones with little dogs.

I thought, when I decided to spend Christmas in China, that I would be escaping much of what I hate about Christmas in the West. The brash, in-your-face, shameless commercialism that threatens to completely obscure what’s important about the holiday, whatever your feelings about spirituality.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I guess the mall down the street found Jesus. This is the most severe example, but it’s everywhere I go. Every store or restaurant has some Christmas theme, or Santa Claus poster, or terrible Western Christmas music. When I’m in my most cynical moods, more commonly referred to as being awake, I am certain that it is done with the sole aim of luring presumably-rich westerners into the particular establishment. I guess they don’t know how revolting I find it.

I thought, when I decided to spend Christmas in China, that I would be escaping much of what I hate about Christmas in the West. The brash, in-your-face, shameless commercialism that threatens to completely obscure what’s important about the holiday, whatever your feelings about spirituality.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I guess the mall down the street found Jesus. This is the most severe example, but it’s everywhere I go. Every store or restaurant has some Christmas theme, or Santa Claus poster, or terrible Western Christmas music. When I’m in my most cynical moods, more commonly referred to as being awake, I am certain that it is done with the sole aim of luring presumably-rich westerners into the particular establishment. I guess they don’t know how revolting I find it.

I think there’s a small translation error on a sign in the Beijing airport. It reads “Airport Fast Food”, but I think a more accurate sign would be “The Worst Food Which You Will Eat During Your Entire Stay in China”. I almost spit it back out. It was repellant. I cannot remember more disgusting food, ever.

Flying on a Chinese domestic airline is in some ways superior to any experience I’ve had in the US, probably because they aren’t hamstrung by tens of thousands of pages of FAA regulations. For example, the plane pushes back the instant everyone is on board and the door is closed. We can make progress towards the runway while people are busy getting seated and spitting in the aisle.

On the other hand, if you’re flying economy class, the Chinese have absolutely perfected the art of treating you like cattle. Also, I have never in my life seen so many delayed or cancelled flights.

I think there’s a small translation error on a sign in the Beijing airport. It reads “Airport Fast Food”, but I think a more accurate sign would be “The Worst Food Which You Will Eat During Your Entire Stay in China”. I almost spit it back out. It was repellant. I cannot remember more disgusting food, ever.

Flying on a Chinese domestic airline is in some ways superior to any experience I’ve had in the US, probably because they aren’t hamstrung by tens of thousands of pages of FAA regulations. For example, the plane pushes back the instant everyone is on board and the door is closed. We can make progress towards the runway while people are busy getting seated and spitting in the aisle.

On the other hand, if you’re flying economy class, the Chinese have absolutely perfected the art of treating you like cattle. Also, I have never in my life seen so many delayed or cancelled flights.

I am spending this Christmas on a foreign tropical island paradise, so naturally it doesn’t feel anything at all like Christmas. We arrived so late last night that I didn’t notice that my room was ocean-facing. It’s a huge blue thing with some pointy bits in it.

I ran around on the beach and swam a little (brr — the water is not very warm). I don’t feel all that great, so I think it’s time for my Christmas nap.

I am spending this Christmas on a foreign tropical island paradise, so naturally it doesn’t feel anything at all like Christmas. We arrived so late last night that I didn’t notice that my room was ocean-facing. It’s a huge blue thing with some pointy bits in it.

I ran around on the beach and swam a little (brr — the water is not very warm). I don’t feel all that great, so I think it’s time for my Christmas nap.

I’m in hell, and my Chinese death flu is my tormentor.

I felt it coming on a day or so ago in Beijing, and I ignored it. I have some symptoms which should not be discussed in polite company. I want to die, as quickly as possible. I am waiting for the hallucinations to start, like in January 2000 in San Francisco.

I’m in hell, and my Chinese death flu is my tormentor.

I felt it coming on a day or so ago in Beijing, and I ignored it. I have some symptoms which should not be discussed in polite company. I want to die, as quickly as possible. I am waiting for the hallucinations to start, like in January 2000 in San Francisco.

Somehow I managed to drag myself from the hotel and into the city of Sanya with Peter. Hainan, unsurprisingly, is rumoured to have some of the best seafood, and it did not disappoint, although I didn’t eat very much. At all of the restaurants, you walk around outside and point to the fish you want; they whisk them out of the tank, throw them on the street, and cook them for you.

Unlike last night’s meal, though, tonight’s came with a new species of crab, you may not have heard of it: the one-clawed crab.

When we confronted the fishmonger about this, he shrugged and said something about what a coincidence it is that we would get three crabs which all had a missing claw. What a coincidence indeed.

I don’t think we’ll eat there again.

Somehow I managed to drag myself from the hotel and into the city of Sanya with Peter. Hainan, unsurprisingly, is rumoured to have some of the best seafood, and it did not disappoint, although I didn’t eat very much. At all of the restaurants, you walk around outside and point to the fish you want; they whisk them out of the tank, throw them on the street, and cook them for you.

Unlike last night’s meal, though, tonight’s came with a new species of crab, you may not have heard of it: the one-clawed crab.

When we confronted the fishmonger about this, he shrugged and said something about what a coincidence it is that we would get three crabs which all had a missing claw. What a coincidence indeed.

I don’t think we’ll eat there again.

Update: still in hell.

Those flying domestically within China should fly first class, at least once, just for the contrast with coach — which I find to be somewhat wider than in the US. In the back, one is fortunate to avoid being spit on. Three or four people will smoke cigarettes after dinner, apparently without repercussions, which you must therefore also smoke. The service is an impressive demonstration of cold, hard Chinese efficiency.

In first, one needn’t tire oneself standing in a queue for a lavatory, for example, because it would be their highest pleasure to notify you the instant it becomes available. That is the sort of thing I’m talking about. Also, let’s face it, the women serving the first class cabin are babes.

The flight was not so bad, not nearly as bad as last night in the hotel. I was served by a most excellent flight attendant, the best I encountered in the 100,000 miles I flew this year, and I think by far the youngest on the flight. The long-haul routes between the US and Asia/Australia are prime postings most sought after by flight attendants, so naturally those with most seniority are chosen. All I’m saying is that almost any of them could be Reagan’s grandmother, I just can’t be sure. It was quite a contrast with yesterday’s flight.

Mostly I tried to sleep, and mostly I succeeded. I took a lot of Imodium.

Remember what I said about those delayed flights? Almost the entire board is delayed here, because of the light rain. SFO is such a shitty airport.

The flight was not so bad, not nearly as bad as last night in the hotel. I was served by a most excellent flight attendant, the best I encountered in the 100,000 miles I flew this year, and I think by far the youngest on the flight. The long-haul routes between the US and Asia/Australia are prime postings most sought after by flight attendants, so naturally those with most seniority are chosen. All I’m saying is that almost any of them could be Reagan’s grandmother, I just can’t be sure. It was quite a contrast with yesterday’s flight.

Mostly I tried to sleep, and mostly I succeeded. I took a lot of Imodium.

Remember what I said about those delayed flights? Almost the entire board is delayed here, because of the light rain. SFO is such a shitty airport.

I ate solid food today. I think tomorrow I will try dairy products again, then maybe a salad, and declare myself cured.

I ate solid food today. I think tomorrow I will try dairy products again, then maybe a salad, and declare myself cured.